-to my husband, a week before stem cell transplant
Today we listen to Clapton’s melancholic rendition
of Autumn Leaves and remote our way through news
and weather channels to learn more about the fury
of Hurricane Ian in the gulf, keenly aware
of the ensuing winter and the suffering our flesh
is heir to. In a few short days, you, too, will weather
the biggest storm of your life, and I will be helpless
to do anything about it. We will batten down
for forty and more days and wait for the wind to die
down and the squalls to subside that we might send out
the raven and dove to test the receding waters.
Published in my second collection of poems, Come before Winter, 2024